106. Seungdeok Manor (1)
Seungdeok Manor (1)
106. Seungdeok Manor (1)
We had to pack again and head to the Peng Clan. We'd collect the three hundred taels of gold from the Clan Head and do a little sightseeing in Beijing. Yet on what I'd assumed would be our final peaceful day at Seungbok Manor, another headache found us before the meal was even over. We'd thought every sect we met might become a good neighbor, as the White Tiger Sect and Star-Moon Sect had, but we still understood nothing about the ecology of the martial world. It would have been wonderful if everything had ended well. Instead, trouble erupted before we even finished eating.
"Third Young Master! The five elders and warriors from the main house have just arrived at the manor gates. They've ordered that the Young Master and the Yeongsan Sect Leader be brought before them at once."
A man rushed in before we could even enjoy dessert. Aside from me and Peng Gang, the only other men at Seungdeok Manor were the two gatekeepers.
"What are you talking about? Even if that applies to me, ordering the Yeongsan Sect Leader to come before them? This is now Yeongsan Sect's property. For a guest to summon the master of the house back and forth—how dare they!"
Peng Gang shot up from the table in an instant. A dark shadow fell across Hong Seon-hwa's face too—a face that had been blissful just moments before from heavenly sex and the rarest delicacies.
"Peng Gang. The gatekeeper must have garbled the message. The elders are here, so let's go out and meet them first."
As the couple hurried out, the maids, who had been chattering merrily, rose from their seats without a word and began clearing the table. My master, her face tense, asked,
"Has something happened?"
"I don't know. They're looking for you, Master, so we should go out at once as well."
Our first meeting with the Peng Clan had been disastrous, but everything had been working out since. Peng Clan Head had taken a liking to us and given us this enormous gift, and Lee Eun-ha had treated Peng Seok. What's more, I'd even sworn brotherhood with Peng Gang, a direct descendant of the Peng Clan. So why had the Peng Clan dragged warriors along and come to commit such an outrage, instead of coming to meet my master with the proper respect? Hurrying with my master to the manor's main gate, we found nearly eighty warriors waiting for us with their great sabers drawn, as if staging a show of force.
"So you are the Yeongsan Sect Leader? I am called Peng Ju. I hold a position as an elder of the main house."
As we hurried out, an old man spoke while looking at my master. Even at a glance, five of the old men stood out with their distinct attire, including him.
"I am Chae Yeong-ok, Sect Leader of Yeongsan Sect. Elder Peng Ju, what business brings you to us so early in the morning?"
"I didn't come looking for you. We are the hosts, and you are the guests. Seungdeok Manor belongs to the Peng Clan. There was some sort of misunderstanding on the Clan Head's part, but surely even you realize that gifting away a manor and territory like this on a whim is absurd? We, as elders, can understand that you, in your youth and ignorance of the martial world's circumstances, accepted the manor without knowing any better. So vacate the manor at once and leave this place."
Was...was this old bastard insane? I didn't care about the manor or anything else, but in the Peng Clan, which operated like a top-down army, he was telling us to hand back a gift that the Clan Head himself had personally promised?
"Elder! This is outrageous! Seungdeok Manor was gifted to Yeongsan Sect by the Clan Head himself!"
Peng Gang cried out in agitation. But the elder only gave him a sneer.
"Yes. It was because of the Peng Clan's pride, which you trampled. So I imagine the Clan Head was momentarily confused as well. We are not ignorant of courtesy. We have prepared one hundred taels of gold as the price of your life, so return to the main house and reflect on your conduct."
"A...a hundred taels of gold? This is absurd! Do the Clan Head and Elder Peng Seok know of this as well?"
"The Clan Head departed on a brief journey after Elder Peng Seok made a full recovery. When the two of them return, I will explain matters, so do not worry."
"This cannot be! It was the Clan Head's command. A command that every person of the Peng Clan, whether elder or anyone else, must obey! This is no different from insubordination!"
"Insubordination?! Did you just dare speak the word insubordination?! Drunk on your arrogance as a direct descendant, you were already pushed aside in the succession struggle, and you still haven't learned a thing! How fortunate. Il-su. Unlike you, he is a fine talent. I wonder what Elder Peng Seok was thinking, indulging a wretch like you. Tsk."
The elder glared at Peng Gang with contempt. Then another elder behind him spoke to Peng Gang in a somewhat gentler tone.
"Surely you don't think we would dare disregard the Clan Head's command, elders though we may be? This was the order of the Young Clan Head, your father. The Young Clan Head will take responsibility for what follows, so go back to the main house and reflect on your conduct for a while."
"Fa...my father gave this order?"
Peng Gang's face was incredulous. And Hong Seon-hwa shut her eyes tight.
"Peng Gang. You are a son of the Young Clan Head, yet how is it that you fall so far short of your older brother Il-su? The successor has already been decided as Il-su. Any further pointless competition will only tear the clan apart! It is precisely because he knows this that your father, the Young Clan Head, consented to this. Even now, in this situation, can you truly not grasp his intent? You too must now accept the outcome with dignity like a warrior of the Peng Clan, and help your brother build up the clan. How could you try to reverse the result by borrowing the power of outsiders whose identity you don't even know?"
Hearing those words, Peng Gang was speechless for a moment, then slowly began to laugh.
"Outside power? You mean Yeongsan Sect? How strange. Isn't that bastard Peng Il-su standing where he is now thanks to the power of his married sisters? Once Peng Il-su becomes Young Clan Head, won't he have to give away the Peng Clan's precious assets without restraint to repay those debts to his sisters' in-laws? Yeongsan Sect is a small sect of only six members, though it has Big Brother, whose martial might reaches the heavens. They want nothing from the Peng Clan. If anything, they only want a friendly neighbor. And as for what I would give to Yeongsan Sect, it is nothing more than my own personal respect for that older brother!"
He began in a small voice. But with growing emotion, he ended up speaking as if weeping. He already knew that clan opinion had swung in Peng Il-su's favor, but upon hearing that even his own father had completely given up on him, Peng Gang finally exploded.
"Older brother? You have one encounter with some half-baked master and mistake him for something great with your narrow insight, and now the elders of the clan seem laughable to you? The Peng Clan's power is not as trifling as you imagine. Even if that young man truly reached the first rate at his age, he is nothing before the Peng Clan's power. You must have truly gone mad, putting your faith in some trifling connection."
"The ones who've gone mad are the elders, aren't they? What you elders are doing now is outright declaring that you intend to make an enemy of Yeongsan Sect!"
"What? You wretch? Did you dare say we are mad?"
One elder burst out with his internal power, pressing Peng Gang. Another elder restrained him and stepped forward to speak.
"Gang. A heart demon has taken hold of you. Why do you twist our words so and make things uncomfortable with Yeongsan Sect? We are not seeking to make an enemy of Yeongsan Sect. To be honest, even the Peng Clan's intelligence network had never even heard the name Yeongsan Sect before. But having met them face-to-face, that young man is a remarkable talent who has reached the threshold of the first rate. We of the Peng Clan respect the strong. We have no intention of persecuting them. We simply mean to reclaim a gift that was mistakenly conveyed and express our gratitude in another way.
"Furthermore, I hear Yeongsan Sect possesses extraordinary medicinal pills? If our Peng Clan purchases those pills, they will surely be delighted as well."
Peng Gang was now laughing hollowly. And Hong Seon-hwa had buried her face in her hands and sunk to the ground. Those people had not come to speak with us or with Peng Gang. The matter of reclaiming the manor, and the matter of deciding the Peng Clan's successor—in their minds, everything was already settled.
"That is precisely what making an enemy means. Do you think they don't know that you're treating Yeongsan Sect, their benefactors, like some common street apothecary? Do you elders truly believe your judgment of people surpasses the Clan Head's discernment? Did you not hear the accounts of that day from the household retainers at the manor? Do you elders truly not know why Heuk Cheon-gyeon and the Black Heaven Association Leader vanished overnight, or why the Black Heaven Association sealed its gates?"
"Who witnessed that, and who can attest to it? The Clan Head must have taken pity on you and wished to lend you strength. I grant that it is formidable martial prowess for his age, but the Black Heaven Association Leader is a master against whom even the Clan Head cannot guarantee victory. Most likely, he went to the Murongs some months ago and dealt with it together with Murong Clan Head."
That was the conclusion the elders had reached. At that answer, Peng Gang was stupefied.
"No one witnessed it? Then what about Uncle Peng Mu? What about the Qi-Guided Sword wreathed in Martial Aura that Uncle Peng Mu and the warriors of the main clan witnessed?"
"Peng Mu was always the sort to take your side and split the clan. He wanted to install you as Young Clan Head, so he could surely fabricate any tale. Weren't the manor warriors present that day Peng Mu's direct subordinates? Yeongsan Sect possessed pills effective enough to treat Elder Peng Seok, Peng Mu's father, so naturally they'd have played along to flatter the young man as well."
Like detectives with astonishing powers of deduction, the elders neatly filled in everything they couldn't comprehend with delusions. Watching them act on conclusions based on nothing but their own delusions from the start, Peng Gang now gave up.
"Think whatever you like.
"Older Brother. It seems I won't be able to keep my promise. These people are utterly mistaken about the Peng Clan's family precepts. No one understands that accepting an outcome and bowing your head is a teaching meant for planning the future, not for giving up before even fighting. They fear change. They're nothing but fools with no thought beyond controlling Peng Il-su according to the plans they've laid and bleeding the clan dry!"
"You...you insolent wretch! Daring to treat the elders, the elders of your own main house, with contempt! You had best prepare yourself. Direct descendant though you are, mere reflection and seclusion will not be the end of this."
The elders pressed Peng Gang with terrifying fury, but Peng Gang spoke back to them with eyes that were oddly unburdened, his words confident.
"For the first time in my life, I have felt ashamed of being from the Peng Clan. I have no desire for the position of Young Clan Head or anything of the sort, so enjoy yourselves playing with Peng Il-su. I am no longer a warrior of the Peng Clan."
He hurled his great saber, the symbol of the Peng Clan and a weapon bestowed by his family, onto the ground. At that sight, the elders, their patience exhausted, moved to take action, and at last I stepped forward before them.
"So, the conclusion is that you want the manor returned? The agreement is voided?"
"You're quick on the uptake. Greed beyond one's due ruins great undertakings. We intend to give Yeongsan Sect other compensation so they won't feel shortchanged. We heard along the way. You're Baek Eun-hyeok, who suffered every manner of humiliation at the Murong's Beautiful Madness's hands, aren't you? There will be no need for that going forward. The Peng Clan will carefully look after and protect Yeongsan Sect and yourself."
I was apparently something of a celebrity among the Five Great Clans. I'd wished for fame, but not this kind of fame. Now that I thought about it, hadn't there been one living dildo among those warriors before, who'd once sneered at me as Beautiful Madness's pet dog?
"Master. That's what they're saying. Should we just give it back?"
My master tended to show vulnerability in the face of sudden changes, but thanks to Peng Gang buying time, she was now able to wear the face of a Sect Leader naturally.
"It was a gift we never desired in the first place. Nor is it essential to Yeongsan. In any case, we planned to depart today. If the Peng Clan wishes it, we shall return it to you."
The elders smiled in satisfaction at those words. And Peng Gang sneered at them. I, sharing his sentiment, declared to them,
"Now then. The agreement is voided. So, everyone, please draw your weapons."
At the cold words I uttered, the Peng Clan warriors wondered if they had misheard.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The agreement—didn't you know? The manor was the price for Yeongsan not advancing south into Hebei. Now that the agreement is voided, we have nothing holding us back.
"Peng Gang. You have nowhere left to go now, do you? I'll give you the manor, so protect Master and my senior sisters with your life."
At those words, Peng Gang drew the new great saber I'd made for him and stood guard before the women. My master, Jeong-hyang, and Son Yeong too, as if they no longer intended to merely be protected, each drew their swords and prepared for an enemy attack. Startled by the premonition of fierce battle, Hong Seon-hwa clutched Cho-ryeong and Peng So tightly and fled deeper into the manor, while Lee Eun-ha quietly began picking up fist-sized stones scattered nearby.
"Y...Young man? What are you saying?"
Flabbergasted by our orderly and immediate battle preparations, the elder could only stammer.
"You've been spewing incredibly rude things at our sect and our Sect Leader from the start, haven't you? And not from some ordinary warrior, but from a Peng Clan elder, no less? On top of that, you've unilaterally voided our agreement, humiliating us. I don't know or care about the Peng Clan's internal affairs, but Yeongsan Sect cannot simply let such an affront pass. We've returned the manor, so now I'll take it back by force."
"Su... Surely you people aren't?"
The old men were even trembling as they asked again. What good was it being first-class masters in name? Why didn't they use this time to launch a surprise attack or something?
"I thought you'd know, having lived long in the martial world. But I suppose the Peng Clan really is the Peng Clan after all. This is a declaration of war. Was the Clan Head's decision to block our southern advance with a manor a wise one, or was it senility? See for yourselves and find out."
We'd been complacent. We'd obtained peace with the Peng Clan far too easily. I'd thought the duel with Peng Mu was enough, but in the end, no one was hurt that day, and it had finished as our own private affair. That was why my power hadn't been proven to them. That was why my master and Yeongsan Sect, whom even the Clan Head had acknowledged, had been disregarded.
If it was proof of power they wanted, then I'd give it to them.